With 90+ categories and 300+ jurors, the Architizer A+Awards is the world’s definitive architectural awards program. In anticipation of the Awards Gala and Phaidon book launch on May 14, we are pleased to share the stories behind the winners of the 2015 Awards program — see all of them here.
Sturgess Architecture won the 2015 A+Awards, Jury Choice and Popular Choice, in the +Engineering Category with Glacier Skywalk. The 15,000-foot-long parabola-shaped cantilever extends over Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies, also providing unobstructed views below through its heat-strengthened glass floor.
Your name: Jeremy Sturgess MAAA FRAIC RCA
Firm name: Sturgess Architecture
Location: Calgary, AB Canada
Education: BArch University of Toronto 1974
When did you decide that you wanted to be an architect?
My first architecture memory is designing a house as an eighth grade science project.
What was your first architecture/design job?
I had a summer job in 1967 working in Montreal, during EXPO 67, for Ray Affleck at ARCOP, working on Place Bonaventure.
Who is your design hero and/or what is your favorite building?
I have modeled my office after three design firms with which I am well acquainted: Cooper Robertson in NYC, Foster+Partners in London, and MRY in Santa Monica. Our studio context supports a collaborative design process that fosters innovation and fresh thought. We teach part-time, which enables us to become acquainted with the students that are an essential part of our team.
What do you find exciting about architecture and design right now?
The global exposure spawned by the web is exciting and powerful. The opportunity to communicate beyond our physical context is rewarding. Projects, for me, are vehicles to relationships and our world is getting larger.
Tell us something that people might not know about your A+Award submission:
The Glacier Skywalk was originally selected as a design competition winner and was built according to a design/build contract. In our experience, this process can marginalize the designer; however, in this case, all stakeholders were so committed to the competition-winning solution that everyone went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that nothing was lost from the concept in the process to build on budget.
Which jurors do you find most compelling and why?
It is a list from heaven. Steven Holl is the architect I admire most of my contemporaries for his intellectual, artistic, and contextual approach to architecture. Alan Cumming is someone I admire at so many levels. I didn’t know he had such good taste in architecture.
Other than your computer (or phone), what is your most important tool?
My colleagues in our office. I rely on them to collaborate with me and with our clients to embark together on a guided but uncharted journey.
Outside of architecture, where do you look for inspiration?
The arts — music primarily, as well as painting, offer me inspiration, diversion, and reflection that support and guide the creative process.
What is the most important quality in an architect?
To understand how the building will support and/or influence its context.
Who would be your dream client, and why?
Anyone who wants to engage in and pay for a process that will evolve into something that will be greater than the sum of its parts. Above all, architecture is about community, and every building has a responsibility to contribute to the quality of its context.
See all of the 2015 A+Award Winners here and all of the Winner Q+A’s here — and pre-order the book from Phaidon here.